PENNSVILLE — Last season, Pennsville Memorial High School quarterback Dylan Cummings made history as he became the first sophomore in New Jersey history to throw for over 3,000 yards.

He teamed up with Ryan Hawthorne and Colton Newsome to lead the Eagles to the South Jersey Group I championship game, which they dropped to Glassboro.

But Cummings, a proven star under center, lost both Hawthorne and Newsome to graduation. The question this year is whether Cummings will be able to keep the Eagles marching down the field with the same offensive explosiveness.

“He’s much bigger, he’s much stronger,” head coach Ryan Wood said of Cummings. “I think you’ll see him run the football more and do more things. He still has a great supporting cast around him.

“We did lose Colton, we did lose Ryan, and we lost Monty (Krough) from the backfield. But we have five junior linemen, four of which are returning starters. The fifth kid we’re adding in is a big kid (Cody Dooley). He weighs about 300 pounds.

“Dylan is in a great situation because he’s a year older, stronger, a year longer in the system and he’s got great pieces around him. To do what he did last year takes 11 guys and it’ll be the same thing this year. He should step up and have an outstanding year. He’s confident and I’m certainly confident in him. We don’t expect much to change.”

Cummings’ main target this year will be junior wideout/safety Drew Burdsall, who did have some action last year when Hawthorne and Newsome weren’t stealing the show.

“It’s definitely going to be tough (to step in as the No. 1 option),” Burdsall said. “They were some great playmakers. I just gotta work hard to fill their spot and see what I can do.”

“I’m pretty confident,” Cummings added. “We’ve been working all winter in the weight room and getting ready.

“Drew Burdsall is going to be a big target for me this year. I know he’s small, but he’s got hands of gold.”

Wood already knows coming into the season that Burdsall is fully capable of being the top receiver on his team. After all, it’s tough to get that many chances when you’re playing with receivers like Hawthorne, last year’s Salem County Player of the Year, and Newsome.

“Our feature receiver this year will be Drew Burdsall, and he’s outstanding,” Wood said, later agreeing that Burdsall was stuck in a situation much like Ricky Proehl was with the St. Louis Rams when Torry Holt and Isaac Bruce were a tremendous 1-2 punch in the early 2000s. “He could have put up huge numbers last year as a sophomore. The only problem for Drew was that we had Ryan and Colton. It wasn’t a problem with Drew, he as just a little bit further down on the option list.

“When you see the box scores and stuff, you’re going to see a lot of Drew Burdsall’s name.”